“The eyes are no good for watching. They stray too much.” ~ Madame Armfeldt in A Little Night Music as played by Angela Lansbury
During A Little Night Music, Madame Armfeldt is talking to her granddaughter, Fredricka, who is trying to see the night smiling at her. Madame Armfeldt explains the failings of the eyes to actually watch because they get too distracted. The world is full of things that are bright and shiny that take our attention elsewhere. If we want to see, really see, things of true value we must go beyond their appearance to get at their essence. What raises our long-term happiness level, and the happiness level of those around us? Those are the things of true value.
My yoga teacher, Johanna, has been trying to get us to see that nothing we are looking for is outside. It’s all “in here”. The way is in the heart and the soul. Think what you want about this groovy sentiment, I’m beginning to believe that Jo is on to something. As I strolled through the park today on my birthday morning walk, I focused on how the things I was seeing and hearing and experiencing were in communion with my internal feelings of well-being and happiness. I ceased to see myself as separate from my surroundings, and saw myself as just a component of them. In this new state, I could see, not with my eyes but with my heart, that the world is always smiling at me.
So on the occasion of my 34th birthday, I do have a wish to make as I blow out the candles on my delicious cupcake (after all, what’s a birthday without cupcakes?) – I wish to begin seeing, watching, in new ways. I want to learn how to be in the world with consciousness in a way that does not weigh me down, but rather in a way that makes me lighter. I wish for a continued growth of gratitude and gladness, and the opportunity to bring that sense of gladness to others. I wish to be present in every moment, watching and communicating with the heart.
The image above is not my own. It can be found here.
Christa Avampato 
